Controlling Report column width using SDK

Question

I want to create and export a report on a single button click, but I can’t figure out how to control the report's column widths using the SDK. The values in my fields are always truncated because the default width is too narrow. I’ve tried setting the field Width property, but that didn't seem to do anything.

RebeccaPenman · Answer

Hi Wolf,

I have only one field in my test report (and no groupings). I added a button to run your code so I could replicate all of your steps. All I changed in your code was "FieldName". When I click on “Details Field Value Text” before and after running your code, I can see that the column polygon in my design does increase in size when I run your code. I am adding just one unit to ensure it doesn't fall outside the report area and it looks like it can fit easily on the line.  When I export to PDF, however, I get a report with empty values. It is multi-pages, so it is filling with something.  The field name in the design changes to a red ellipsis after running the column fix--that can't be good. The new polygon must be overlapping, but I don’t see where to fix it.

When I export my report to PDF without your fix, I get values, but they are truncated. If I manually increase the column width, my report exports fine. I just can’t get the column fix to work using the SDK.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Rebecca

Wolf · Answer

Hi Rebecca,

Can you explain the workflow you implemented to in order to change the report's layout and run it?  Also how many fields do you have and which field's frame are you widening (left, center, right most)?    As for the code above we created the report (with one column only), next we ran the snippet above, finally we exported the report.  The text widening worked fine (from 1 inch to 5 in our case).  To make sure that your text frames are not overlapping or going outside the report area, you can iterate through all cimParagraphTextGraphicElement items with a text containing "field-value" (these are the field values in your detail report section only) and output the textPolygonFrame's corners.

RebeccaPenman · Answer

Uma,

When I implement your code to widen a text frame, I lose any data in that frame. Is there a step I'm missing? Does the data source need to be reloaded?